Displaced
by Djinns
Summary: "A girl's gotta crash somewhere", the grey stranger answered as she studied her surroundings. "This castle's gonna do the trick." / Pre-series, first meetings.
1. Chapter 1

Only the sound of the siren roamed the corridors of the castle as Princess Bubblegum left her room in a hurry, putting on a sweater on top of her nightgown as she rushed towards the security room. She crossed path with a few Banana guards who seemed both sleepy and confused, and so she solemnly ordered them to keep their post until further notice. It took her exactly fifty-four seconds to get to the control panels of her newly installed security system – not a personal best. Disappointed, she still managed to focus on the crisis at hand.

She pressed on a complicated series of jellybeans buttons before twisting an orange lollipop, successfully unlocking the screen of the console and silencing the alarm. Then, she stared at the green screen, hands on her thighs, her mind quickly deciphering the information given to her. On what probably looked like an indecipherable map to anyone else, she noticed a red sparkle and frowned.

"Go, and regroup your men in the Candy Hall", Princess Bubblegum ordered to the Banana guard posted at the entrance of the security room. She turned her attention back to the glowing dot as she whispered to herself; "it seems we have an intruder on our hands."

The leader pushed another series of buttons, locking away the security screen before she left the room and proceeded to meet her army. She feared for the worst as she saw the fatigue in her soldiers eyes; the Candy people needed their rest more than most creatures, and being under attack in the middle of the night meant dramatically decreased efficiency. She could only hope the crisis was nothing more than a mere glitch in the system, but somehow it felt unlikely; Princess Bubblegum had created the entire network herself, and she knew it was sound.

Candy Hall was filled with whispers of panic when she arrived, and it took several minutes to silence everyone. As she mentally prepared her speech, the pink monarch fought against the feeling that someone – _something_ – was intently watching her. _No time for paranoia_, she told herself as she cleared her throat.

"Guards! Tonight, the Candy people need you. We are facing a great threat, as I have just been informed that, a few minutes ago, a portal to the Nightosphere has appeared in the vicinity of the castle."

The information spread a new wave of murmurs and worries through the crowd as the Princess continued.

"Although it has remained opened only for a few seconds, it is very possible that something came through."

A Banana guard stepped out of the group, awkwardly holding onto his spear.

"Maybe someone left the kingdom to go there?", he suggested. Many other guards naively agreed, their voices becoming a blur as they melted in a flow of impossible explanations for tonight's events.

The Princess crushed her fist against her palm in a decisive manner, as if ready to lead them into war, successfully regaining her guards' attention. With a dark voice, like the one she used to tell horror stories to the Marshmallow kids by the camp fire, she spoke:

"No Candy in their right mind would go to the Nightosphere! They'd melt in a matter of seconds."

Her answer sent waves of fear across the army's ranks, but before she could continue, an unknown female voice interrupted her.

"You're globbin' right, Princess."

The Banana guards dispersed themselves in the room, looking around them nervously to locate the origin of the voice. As they turned around and searched their horizontal perimeters, the pink royalty instinctively raised her head, her eyes locking onto dark orbs that seemed to pierce her soul. She shivered, congratulated herself that she had put on a sweater and, after what seemed an eternity, finally opened her mouth.

"Who are you?", she asked defiantly.

Above her, the greyish silhouette hovered, its identity protected by the shadows of the night. The Princess cursed herself for not having thought of a better way to light up Candy Hall; surely there were too many places where a creature could hide in this castle, and she would have to think of a way to increase security in that regard. In the meantime, she would have to deal with this intruder herself, it seemed, as her guards had started to panic, regrouping against the walls in terror.

The creature slowly floated down in the empty circle that had formed in the middle of Candy Hall, seemingly triumphant as she smiled to the pink monarch.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know", the girl enigmatically answered. Now that she bathed in the moonlight, Bubblegum could see that the intruder was, in fact, a girl not much older than herself. Relieved, she took one step forward and crossed her arms in front of her, as if she was not impressed by the other teen's stunt.

"You crossed over from the Nightosphere", the Princess spoke, her mind trying to unfold the situation laid in front of her. "What do you want?"

The question was meant as an olive branch, an honest and simple way to inquire about the intentions of the stranger. Instead, the words rushed out of the Princess' mouth with intent of their own, and in the dead silence of Candy Hall, sounded incredibly rude. The pink girl blamed the lack of sleep, really. It had a direct effect on her diplomatic abilities; she would have to study it sometime.

"Well now, that's not very polite. Aren't you supposed to be hospitable, and offer your guest a good meal and a night's rest?"

There was something about the way the stranger said the word _meal_ that made every guard in the room shiver, despite the girl's non-threatening appearance.

"Where are your manners, Princess?"

As she spoke, the dark figure transformed itself, gaining height and upper muscles as its face twisted, eyes glowing with red. A few Banana guards screamed in horror as they rushed to the windows and jumped outside, running for their lives through the sleeping streets of the Candy kingdom.

"You're a demon", Bubblegum spoke, her scientific mind suddenly very intrigued by her visitor, although she still remained entirely focused on the threat the creature currently presented.

"Half-demon", the figure replied with a strange voice, darker than the one it had before. "But don't worry, I'm not here to suck your souls."

The intruder winked at the princess, sending a shiver down her spine and reminding her of the way the creature had spoken of having _a good meal_. If there was something that her people were known for, more than any other race on Ooo – apart from humans, of course – it was being tasty.

"What do you want?", Bubblegum asked again, taking another step forward, hoping to send the message that she wasn't intimidated by the creature, even though her own army appeared paralyzed by fear.

"A girl's gotta crash somewhere", the grey stranger answered as she studied her surroundings. "This castle's gonna do the trick."

Princess Bubblegum threw her arms in the air, as if trying to get the creature's attention.

"Hey! This is _my_ castle, _my_ home! You're not welcomed here!"

Her protest was only met with a long laugh as the tall, dark creature grabbed a Banana guard, picking it up as if a flower in a garden. She held him between two fingers, balancing him from left to right, and back again, like he was nothing else than a toy.

"I do whatever I want", the stranger replied before she started to playfully throw the guard from one hand to the other. "Get out, or I'm going to eat every last one of your subjects."

When the Princess did not move, the creature opened her mouth, dangling her prisoner right above it.

"Alright, alright!", the pink monarch screamed. "We're leaving."

The half-demon laughed again before she closed her mouth, the prisoner still secured in her grasp as the cavalry ran away, barely listening as the Princess ordered them to leave at once. In the middle of their chaotic escape, the pink monarch remained still, her hands on her thighs, staring at the intruder disapprovingly.

"What?", the creature asked with annoyance as it slowly retracted into its original form.

"Let him go", the Princess ordered with a calm, decisive voice.

"Like I would eat _that_ anyway", the girl answered as she let her prisoner fall onto the ground. He ran away the second he touched the floor, so terrorized that he did not think about looking back to his sovereign, even as he abandoned her behind, alone with the evil creature. In the empty Candy Hall, under the pale moonlight, both girls stared at each other for a few seconds before Princess Bubblegum started to walk towards the exit. The sound of her footsteps echoed on the walls as she passed beside the intruder, her shoulder hitting her along the way; one last gesture of resilience.

"I'll be back", the pink monarch spoke when she reached the door, her words being met with another confident laugh that somehow sounded warmer this time.

"I don't doubt that, Princess."


	2. Chapter 2

Truth be told, rarely in the Candy kingdom history had the Candy people seen their princess in such a strange apparel; wearing an old pink sweater over her nightgown, she had a pair of black binoculars hanging from her neck and a blue backpack on her shoulders. Riding on Lady Rainicorn's back, she flew over her beloved citizens without even noticing their presence, her mind focused on the task at hand.

After her encounter with the creature from the Nightosphere, she had not dared ask for refuge from one of her loyal subjects, fearing she would cause too much panic should they know the truth: that the Candy kingdom was now occupied by an evil fiend she knew nothing about. And therefore she had spent the previous night in Lady's stable, more or less sleeping, using her insomnia to plan out how she would regain control over her castle.

As soon as the sun had rose, they left the warmth of the stable to fly away in the cold morning's sky, seeking allies against their new enemy. Despite being a smoothie, the Princess had managed to get help from the Lumpy Space royalty – it helped that she had become friends with their daughter over the course of the years. As they had no weapons or army to begin with, the Lumpy Space people simply offered spying gear, which was exactly what Bubblegum was after. She was not one to go into battle unprepared, and since she had no information on the powers and weaknesses of the creature, she had to study the specimen first-hand before laying out a plan of attack.

Partially hidden behind a tower, the Princess and Lady had found a window through which they could see the intruder, although they remained too far to actually understand what she was doing in there.

"We need to get closer", Bubblegum insisted once again as she held onto Lady with one arm, her other hand firmly holding the binoculars. The rainicorn protested briefly but still managed to shift her position, bringing them slightly closer to the castle walls.

"Perfect", the pink monarch whispered, as if she was worried the creature inside could hear her. She let go of her binoculars to take out the listening device LSP had lent her, suddenly wondering if her friend had previously used that machine to spy on her the very same way she was about to spy on the strange girl that had taken over her home. She decided it was best not to know as she placed the horn towards the castle's window, adjusting the frequency so that she could hear what was going on inside.

Putting on the ear buds, she grabbed the black binoculars once more, watching as the dark silhouette roamed around the room with her back turned. The Princess jiggled the numerous buttons of the long-rang device, hoping her ears could help her more than her eyes did. Finally, she found the right combination of frequency and heard a female voice. The creature seemed to be speaking to herself, but her intonation was very strange. Bubblegum adjusted once again the sound variations and the volume until finally, the speech became more intelligible.

It took her only a few seconds to understand that what she was hearing was not a mere monologue; it was, in fact, a song.

"_And if Ooo is not it, then what can it be_

_There is just no place left there for me_

_Half-demons don't make any friends that's a fact_

_And vampires just leave them dead in their tracks_"

Princess Bubblegum was startled by the lyrics, and wondered if she had just confirmed her previous suspicions that the creature had, in fact, of vampiric abilities – which meant she would also suffer from the same weaknesses. She didn't reply when Lady asked her if she could hear something, and instead just increased the volume of her device, hoping to catch something else. For a few minutes, she simply heard the same lines over and over again, with different tones accompanying them, and through her binoculars, she could now see that the creature was holding a red guitar – or was it a bass guitar? She could not see from afar.

She was on the verge of giving up when the intruder suddenly let go of her instrument and moved deeper inside the room. Through the ear buds, the Princess heard a yawn, followed by a long silence and a strange sound. Never one to argue with momentum, she let go of her binoculars, held tighter to her friend and ordered her to position herself underneath the window sill. Although she was worried, Lady trusted Bubblegum more than anything, and so she obeyed in a brisk movement, maneuvering them both incredibly close to the enemy.

Bravely, Princess Bubblegum got herself up on her feet, standing up on her friend's back and stabilizing herself by holding onto the castle's exterior wall. With her precarious sense of balance – they were flying after all –, she managed to pull herself up enough to peek inside the room. There, she saw the thin grey girl holding up one of the pink royal cushions, her teeth firmly planted in it as the color was seemingly drained out of the fabric. She gasped again and quickly fell back onto Lady Rainicorn who automatically understood that it was their cue to get out of there.

A few seconds later, the creature reached the window and looked outside, but no one remained to be seen. She rapidly retreated inside to hide from the sun, unaware that, a few meters above her head, a Princess was forming a plan to chase her out of her castle, once and for all.

* * *

Since there were so many secret entrances and paths to her castle that even Peppermint Butler didn't know about, the Princess was confident that the vampire hadn't found out the existence of Bubblegum's laboratory. It took her a while to convince Lady to follow her inside, though – not only her friend was uncomfortable between walls, she was also still frightened by how they had almost been caught by the creature. Still, when the pink monarch explained her plan, she could not argue anymore, and thus, she found herself flying indoor, terrified of making a noise that would alert the vampire of their presence.

In Bubblegum's lab, Science rejoiced from seeing her alive and well – the mouse had heard the commotion of the previous night, but had been stuck in its cage, waiting to know what happened. It gladly offered its paws to the cause as the Princess laid out the schematics for a new weapon. Awkwardly floating in the corner, Lady Rainicorn watched in silence while the two brains worked their magic.

It took several hours for the first prototype to be ready for a test, and when it exploded in the Princess' hands, all three of them thought that it was over. However, a few minutes went by without any noise coming from the castle, which could mean only one of two things: either the vampire was sleeping, or she was gone. Somehow, the pink monarch felt the latter was completely terrifying, as even though none of her loyal subjects had blood, most of them were colored in different shades of red. Princess Bubblegum didn't know if the process of having one's color removed was painful or not, nor if it was deadly, but it sure didn't sound too good.

Finally, the experiment seemed successful enough to be tested within real-life parameters, and even though Lady Rainicorn insisted that someone else take care of it, the Princess knew she had to complete her plan herself. She placed her glasses on her forehead and grabbed the weapon.

"Locked and loaded."


	3. Chapter 3

Marceline didn't need a bed to sleep, and still, it felt more natural to hover above one than to hang from the ceiling, as most vampires did. In the centuries she had traveled through, many of her habits changed with the parameters of her life, but she never stopped sleeping in or above a bed. Her father used to say she was too human for her own good, and maybe he was right, but at least, she was exactly who she wanted to be: herself.

Therefore, when she felt her body entirely filled with red, _courtesy of the Candy kingdom thank you very much_, she found the nearest bed and allowed herself to drift asleep on top of the pink sheets. She could not have found a better place to crash; the entire castle looked like a vampire all-you-can-eat buffet; even the walls sustain her if necessary. She sighed with contempt as her mind filled with nonsensical dreams about a princess made of bubble gum and bananas dancing to the sound of her music.

She awoke hours later with a tingling sensation running up her arm. Protesting against the early morning, she groaned and stubbornly kept her eyes closed as the feeling increased until it became more akin to a burn. Ever since she had arrived in the Candy kingdom, her vampiric sense of smell could only detect a strong scent of sugar – no, not sugar, but something _sugary_ – and so, she couldn't count on her nose to inform her of what going on. She groaned as she fell onto the bed's surface, having realised exactly what the sensation on her skin was: direct sunlight.

Not understanding how it could possibly be – she had chosen to sleep in a guest bedroom without any windows to avoid this exact situation – she opened her eyes. It did not help her as she was blinded by a light that came from the door entrance.

"What the fluff?" she asked as she covered herself with a blanket, quickly leaving the bed to retreat to a corner of the room. "What is that thing?"

In the few seconds it took for the light to follow her, Marceline distinguished a silhouette standing in the doorway, holding what seemed to be a laser gun made out of candy. Blinded again, she raised the blanket over her head, her fingers burning as she tried to get a better hold of the fabric.

"I don't usually name my inventions so casually, but Science suggested I call this a _sun-in-a-gun_", a female voice replied. The vampire recognized the Princess' voice and cursed herself for underestimating the rapidity and effectiveness of her retribution. "What do you think?"

"Ow! Stop that, you freak!", Marceline answered as she grabbed every small object in her reach, throwing everything she could towards the Princess. None of them met with their target, which strengthened the monarch's resolve as she held her ground, her weapon even more effective than her most optimistic predictions.

"What's that? Is my castle not cosy enough for you?", the princess nagged, thrilling with power as she increased the power of the light ray, causing another hiss of pain from her victim.

"Alright alright I get it", the vampire surrendered with a sigh. "I'll leave your stupid place."

"Yes, yes you will", the Princess replied with a cold voice before she turned off her device. She kept the gun aimed at Marceline, her finger tensed over the trigger as her severe pink face stared intently. After a few seconds of reprieve, the grey figure slowly let down her blanket, her eyes blinking as her retinas adjusted to the darkened room. The sheet still firmly held in her fists, she threw one desperate look to her right; against the wall, close to the bed, laid a red bass guitar and a green travel bag.

"You will leave that here; as it belongs to me now. So are the spoils of war.", the princess spoke again before emitting a terrible evil laugh.

"Dude, seriously?"

"Yeah I'm serious. Now, get out."

As the pink monarch tightened her grasp around the weapon, the vampire decided it was best to retreat for now. She let go of the blanket and quickly flew out of the room, her long dark hair brushing against the Princess' arm as she passed by. Marceline didn't think to look back as she rushed out of the castle and through the night, waiting to be entirely out of the Candy kingdom before she burst into a joyful laughter.

It had been decades since she had met anyone who so bravely fought back; maybe this Princess wasn't such a bore after all. Maybe, just maybe, Marceline had finally found someone worth competing with.

* * *

She waited a few days before adventuring over the walls of the Candy kingdom. Completely invisible, she flew across town just after sundown, observing the market place in the early evening, the constant buzzing of living creatures, going about their lives in blissful ignorance. As an immortal being, Marceline had all the time in the world, and so she could not understand how the Candy people would chose to waste their existence with so many ordinary, tedious concerns like shopping and chatting with friends.

If she knew she was going to die in a few years, Marceline would travel across Ooo on the most perilous adventures; engage herself in the most hazardous quests. Then, on the last month, she would barricade herself inside a house and write songs about everything that had happened to her, from her birth to her last breath. There were so many things she wanted to sing about, so many sights she had never shared… really, the vampire could not understand how anyone alive would not desire to lead the greatest of lives.

It was while musing with that thought that she caught sight of her target; a few meters ahead, behind an outside counter set up for the occasion, Princess Bubblegum was busy pouring cups of hot cocoa to her citizens. It had been a rough week for her people, as Marceline had gathered from rumors spread around the kingdom. Shortly after the castle had been sieged by a demon from the Nightosphere – her own evil doing, she congratulated herself –, a Door Lord had robbed most of the town's ice cream supplies.

The monarch offered a kind word to every citizen around her, all the while being unknowingly observed by an invisible vampire hovering above her head. Although she was not usually one to make plans, Marceline had decided that it wouldn't hurt to get a better idea of her opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Now that she was here, though, she couldn't stop wondering if the princess' words and actions were sincere, or if she was more akin to her subjects – simply going through the motions, leading a common life and obeying to a daily routine.

She didn't get enough time to reach a conclusion as Bubblegum suddenly raised her head, her piercing eyes looking right through her. Startled, Marceline flew a few meters backwards, holding her hand in front of her mouth in stupor as the pink monarch blinked several times before she returned her gaze to her citizens.

If Marceline's heart was still alive, she knew it would've skipped a beat.

Really, this Princess could present a challenge, the half-demon thought as she retreated into the darkness of the woods. The mere idea brought a smile to her lips as she picked a few red berries before sitting on a tree branch, sucking the color out of the fruits and promising herself to go back to the castle the next night. Somehow, she couldn't wait to confront Princess Bubblegum again.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a while since she last sneaked into a room through the window, but Marceline was glad to see that she hadn't lost the touch. She had barely made a sound as she closed it behind her, and as she hovered above the bed in her invisible state, she happily noticed that the princess was still safely tucked in her bed, fast asleep. The vampire smiled as she watched the pink sheets wave with the sway of the young monarch's breath before she turned her attention towards the rest of the room.

Through the Princess' belongings, it caught her attention in a matter of seconds: there, beside a desk, her guitar rested against the wall. Happy as she was to be rejoined with her precious possession, the vampire didn't think twice about grabbing it, instantly firing up the trap that had been laid out for her. Her movement cut a tiny string that set about a weird-looking device above Marceline's head. In a matter of seconds, the rug beneath her slid to the side, releasing a puddle of a strange pink mixture that automatically flew across the air, attaching itself to the vampire's feet before crashing against the ceiling.

The sudden course of events caught Marceline off guard, and so she returned to her visible state, hanging upside down, firmly glued in place. The more she struggled to unstuck herself, the more the pink bubble-gum-like substance seemed to move up her body, stretching itself as it held on even tighter. Busy trying to understand what had just happened, the vampire barely noticed the princess rising from her bed with a smile.

"Ha-ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, pushing off her bed sheets and rising to her feet.

"Let me go, you creep!" Marceline angrily replied as she tried to transform into an enormous beast. The strange matter reacted immediately, crawling onto her and reaching her waist, its pressure growing. Understanding that she was making things worst, the grey girl returned to her usual humanoid form and stopped moving, which released a bit of the pressure around her ankles.

"You come into my room in the middle of the night and I'm the creep?" Bubblegum asked, raising one eyebrow as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You – you stole my guitar!" the vampire screamed as she pointed an accusing finger towards the pink monarch.

"And you invaded my castle", the princess answered with a calm and serious voice. A few seconds of silence went by as both girls stared at each other defiantly.

"I like to think that I simply let myself in", the half-demon stated calmly, breaking eye contact all the while mirroring the princess' position, arms crossed.

"You are impossible, Marceline!" the pink royalty spoke with annoyance and what sounded like a pinch of amusement.

The use of her first name surprised the vampire and caught her once again off guard. She uncrossed her arms, puzzled.

"How do you know my name?" she asked with a note of uncertainty in her voice.

Her question was met with a long silence while Bubblegum walked around her prisoner, dropping out of her sight. The vampire focused on the sound of her foot steps to track her progress across the room. Still, she was startled when she heard the princess' voice again, this time coming from behind her.

"Princesses know about a lot of things", she answered cryptically. The young monarch reappeared in Marceline's sight, holding onto her red guitar. "Also…", the girl continued as she turned the instrument around, revealing a black and white sticker that read 'Marceline's property'.

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot about that", the vampire replied, rubbing her right hand on the nape of her neck, as if she tried to hide her embarrassment.

Content to see that her prisoner was starting to be more reasonable, the pink monarch pulled herself a chair and sat a few meters across her, leaving the guitar on the top of her bed.

"So, why don't you tell me why you're here", she suggested, as if it were an ice-breaker in a diplomatic discussion. The serious tone annoyed Marceline, who grimaced before she answered that, as she had previously stated, she simply wanted to have her instrument back. The response caused the princess to sigh before she insisted.

"No, not here in the castle, I mean _here_…", she gestured a lot, throwing her arms up above her head, as if trying to embrace the sky. "Out of the Nightosphere."

The question triggered a pinch of hurt in Marceline's stomach, and she tried to hide her initial reaction with a frown.

"None of your business, Princess", she stubbornly replied. The slight pain she had felt quickly transformed into anger as the pink monarch insisted again.

"I'm not releasing you until you tell me."

"Then I'll get out", the vampire spoke with a childlike wrath; after all, she wasn't in a very good bargaining position, although she hadn't seemed to notice. The princess decided to remind her as she reached for something under her bed.

"Let me rephrase that", Bubblegum said as she pulled out her newest invention. Marceline automatically reacted upon seeing the weapon, remembering the burnt on her arms and fingers that had taken hours to heal.

"Woa woa, ease up", she gestured as she spoke, as if moving her arms around could prove just how defenseless she actually was. Her movements caused her to rock back and forth, unwillingly swinging at the end of her bubble-gum rope.

At the sight of the dangling vampire, the princess started to giggle, which brought a smile to Marceline's face as she struggled with her own desire to laugh.

"You think it's funny?", the grey girl asked, her smile widening as her interrogation caused another burst of uncontrollable laughter.

"It's a little funny", Bubblegum replied as she tried to regain control of herself. Her eyes crossed with the vampire and they both broke into laughter once again, as if they were already old friends, sharing the same joke without even a word. It took a few minutes before they both regained their calm, the princess settling more comfortably in her chair, weapon on her lap as Marceline stretched her arms.

"Seriously though, you'll have to let me go", the vampire said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She then closed her eyes, yawning loudly as she pretended to fall asleep.

"We'll see about that", Bubblegum replied, fighting against her own urge to rest.

A few minutes later, Marceline opened her eyes to find a sleeping princess, curled up in her chair, and she smiled as she noticed once again the waving of her chest, the constant up-and-down of her breath running through her lungs. It didn't take long after that for her to fall asleep, and both girls dreamt peacefully while the weapon on the princess' lap slid slowly to the ground. No one heard the soft noise it made as it fell on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Marceline woke up as her head hit the ground, the rest of her body quickly following in an ungraceful manner. A strange nausea overcame her senses as she remained uncertain of where she was or what was happening. It took a few seconds for her instincts to kick in, and even then, her drained muscles responded slowly to commands. When she finally got to her feet, she noticed her opponent already had a hold of the sun-in-a-gun.

"What the glob?"

The scene that played out in front of her didn't make any sense; a small round-shaped white candy with red stripes and wearing a blue suit stood on top of a ladder, holding a beaker in one hand and the weapon in the other. The stranger let go of the empty glass as she looked around, finding the Princess still sound asleep in her chair. The vampire returned her focus to the candy, which was slowly stepping down the ladder, and wondered if she knew him from somewhere. She thought it was impossible, as there had been no known relations between the Nightosphere and any Ooo kingdoms in many centuries, and yet, something about him seemed familiar.

"Isn't it obvi? I'm busting you out"

Although she understood every word the annoyed voice spoke, she still couldn't make sense of what was happening. As if she were trying to decipher an enigma on the walls, she examined the room around her, spotting the presence of a pink, jelly-like substance that had been projected onto everything in the room, from the ceiling to the floor. Looking down to her clothes, she noticed she was also covered in it. She grabbed a piece of the goo between two fingers and it rapidly dissolved into a sticky liquid. Puzzled, she raised her head and met with the white eyes of the stranger.

"Why?"

"Let's just say your dad and I go way back", the little candy man said, lowering the gun as if he suddenly trusted Marceline. The vampire felt a pinch of betrayal at the mention of her father, which rapidly grew in a full-blown anger.

"He can't know I'm here", she spoke firmly, and wished – as many times before – that her voice wasn't so youthful. She knew her request was useless, because Hunson Abadeer had loyal informants everywhere in the world of Ooo. There were so many dark souls who remained faithful to the evil entities sent to that realm that her dad had eyes and ears on every political event without ever having to leave his dimension. And so, although she knew there was no way for her to fall entirely off his grid, Marceline had thought the Candy kingdom to be filled with pure souls, and had apparently been terribly wrong.

"Hmm", the candy appeared to be deep into thinking as he scratched the side of his head. "Maybe he doesn't have to know."

Marceline frowned again, waiting for an explanation. How would anyone defy her father's will, aside herself, of course? Annoyed by the stranger's silence and the whole situation she found herself into, she sighed deeply. That candy was truly playing with her nerves.

"My first loyalty is to the Princess and this kingdom. If you leave now and don't come back, your father doesn't need to learn about this."

Even though she strongly felt that it was a bad decision, Marceline did not want to risk her father getting a hold of her. She sent one look towards the sleeping princess before she grabbed her bag and her guitar in one brisk movement. As she floated to the window, a soft moan grabbed her attention and, as she turned around, she realised Princess Bubblegum was starting to wake up. She hesitated; somehow, it felt wrong to leave without a proper goodbye.

"You have to leave now", the little guy insisted, raising the gun on her once again.

He didn't have to ask another time, because Marceline quickly opened the window and stepped out, flying into the end of the night in a dark blue sky.

A few minutes later, Princess Bubblegum woke up freezing, uncomfortably positioned on her pink desk chair. She crossed her arms as if trying to find some warmth, but both limbs rapidly fell to her side when she opened her eyes. The sight was seemingly unreal; standing in the middle of her bedroom, where all walls and furniture appeared partially covered by a pink slime, Peppermint Butler stood, out of breath, holding onto her latest invention. The vampire she had captured was nowhere to be seen, and as she instinctively looked behind her, she noticed the guitar and the green travel bag were also gone. The window had been left open, and from it a cold breeze reached her, sending shivers down her spine.

"She escaped, Princess. I came here as quickly as I could, but it was too late", the candy explained, gesturing widely with both arms, emphasizing his defeat.

"It's okay, Peps", the pink monarch answered with a sigh. As she stood up, she felt suddenly so dizzy that she sat down again, holding her head to her hands. "What happened?"

"I heard quite a rustle, and so I came running, but she was already gone", Peppermint continued, letting go of his weapon and reaching his master's side. "She must've put you under a sleep spell; vampires tend to do that."

"Hmm", Bubblegum started speaking as she rose to her feet once again. "I didn't know they could."

She crossed the room as rapidly as she could and closed the window before returning to her desk, throwing away a piece of pink jelly before opening the top drawer and pulling out a notepad.

"Fascinating."

* * *

Marceline flew away in the early morning, uncertain of where to go next. There were so many places in Ooo that had been her home; the tree house she had built with Ash, the lake caves where she had held so many parties, the old dungeon she had transformed into a stage, her small cabin in the badlands… Still, it felt as if none of those houses seemed right. Realising that, for now, she simply didn't want to be alone, she took a quick turn left, and hoped she had enough time before the sun came up to get to her desired destination. It took her only twenty minutes to reach the location, but she could already feel the distinct blister of sunshine on her skin as she knocked on the large wooden door.

She snuck inside as soon as it opened, briskly passing by a servant in a green suit, making him lose and balance and sending him flying to the floor.

"Yeeees?"

The cashew butler spoke his usual joyful welcome phrase although he had lost his balance, as if he had barely noticed the vampire's rude entrance.

"Sorry Lisby", Marceline apologised as she urgently closed the door behind her. She then walked over to him, offering the butler her hand to get him back to his feet. As she pulled the cashew servant up, a familiar voice screamed in happiness and surprise from the other side of the room.

"Marceline!"

The young royalty rapidly left his throne to meet her at the door with open arms.

"Hey Duke, what's up?"


	6. Chapter 6

"I… I… It was so dark and _mean_…"

The Green Gumdrop stuttered and cried in the remains of his living room. Most furniture had been broken and the house, thoroughly ransacked, barely held any place left for Princess Bubblegum and her two Banana guards. They stood amongst the debris in silence for a few seconds, waiting for the candy to retrieve his calm. Seeing as it wouldn't happen for a while, the pink monarch sighed, sending another look around the room.

"Did it say anything else?", the Princess questioned, trying to hide her lack of empathy. She was usually better at it, but it _was_ the middle of the night and she _had_ been disturbed mid-experiment. Also, Green Gumdrop had been crying ever since they had gotten there a half hour ago, and so he had drained all the patience she could possibly muster at the moment. "Any detail would help."

"Just that it wanted red things", the Candy repeated, throwing desperate looks at his leader, tears running down his face. "What am I going to do?"

Containing another sigh, the pink monarch instructed her guards to escort Green Gumdrop to her castle immediately, where he would be safe until his house could be repaired. In the meanwhile, she promised she would remain behind and continue with her investigation. As they left, the girl returned her focus to the chaos she found herself into, trying to make sense of all this mess.

All witnesses described the thief as a tall and dark creature that could magically appear out of nowhere. According to all accounts, it preceded the same way all four times; it grabbed every red object it could find in its path and then destroyed pretty much everything that remained in the room before it vanished. The creature didn't speak much, didn't ask for anything else and seemed to be only interested in the color of the stolen goods – not their value, weight, texture or emotional significance. Tonight was its fourth attack, and so, Princess Bubblegum knew there was no way to avoid the truth any longer: every clue she found pointed towards Marceline.

She sighed, looking around the room one last time from the threshold before she returned to the cold and cloudy night. On the way back to her castle, she kept her hands in her pockets, desperate for some warmth as her mind ran through the past events again.

A dark, tall creature with seemingly magical abilities, and that craved for the color red; obviously, a vampire was behind all this. Then again, Ooo didn't have a lot of vampire citizens as of late, and it couldn't be a coincidence that one had stirred trouble in her kingdom only months ago; by all things logical and mathematical, the person responsible simply had to be Marceline. There was one thing that didn't seem to add up, though, and the detail bothered Bubblegum more than she would care to admit: every single witness had described the creature as _mean_.

If there was something she couldn't see Marceline as, it was mean.

Self-involved, careless, immature, maybe; but where evil was concerned, the vampire seemed to be putting on a show more than anything else, and didn't appear to be so much of a threat. It had been on this hypothesis that the Princess had rested her decision not to send any Banana guards after her, when she had escaped from her gooey trap – something she still couldn't figure out how Marceline had managed to pull such a trick, and it was truly getting on her nerves when she thought about it. Two months had went by since then and everyday had proved to Bubblegum that she had made the right choice; that was, until the thefts began.

All of that didn't really matter now, though, since there were too many clues pointing to Marceline; the Princess knew that she was left with no choice but to arrest her.

* * *

"There is no need for this confrontation", the pink monarch spoke firmly in her megaphone, surrounded by her own little army. "Tell your men to stand down."

There was no immediate response as Peanut guards stood still, their spears pointed towards the intruders, ready to pierce banana skins. In front of Bubblegum, the Banana guards had formed a half-circle, trying to protect their leader despite being obviously outnumbered. The girl cursed herself for not having brought more soldiers along, but how could she predict such a crisis? Even as she was trying to resolve the situation, she could not believe the chaos she found herself in.

She had arrived only a half hour before, and things had gotten out of hand very quickly. After being asked by the Duke – quite impolitely, she might add – to state the reason from her impromptu visit, she had been requested to exit the Duchy of Nuts immediately. She had refused, of course, to leave without the one she had come to arrest, stating that she had proof that the criminal in question was being harbored within the castle's walls. As she felt within her royal rights to insist, she had knocked once again on the heavy wooden door, and upon that gesture it had finally opened; only to release an army of Peanut guards that had forced the Princess and her own soldiers to retreat.

Bubblegum had heard several rumors, while she searched for Marceline's hideout, saying that the Duke had quite an infatuation for the vampire, although she had no idea of the lengths he would go to in order to protect her. Somehow, it wasn't very surprising that a twelve-year-old boy with a crush wouldn't exactly be the most logical person in Ooo, and yet, she hadn't expected such resistance. _Way too young to rule anything_, the Princess thought, but she had no word in this.

All she could do was to try and defuse this situation before it exploded before her eyes.

"She's not guilty of any crimes and besides, your guards don't have jurisdiction here", the Duke angrily screamed from a castle tower, barely aware of the trouble he was in. Behind him, the Princess noticed a dark shadow that quickly passed by, but it didn't remain still long enough for her to determine if it was Marceline or not.

"Then why don't you let me talk to her", the Princess asked again through her megaphone, hoping her impatience wasn't showing. She didn't have time for this reckless ruler and his childish behavior; she had a case to solve and a thief to send to the Candy dungeon. "Just to clear things up"

The boy disappeared from the window, and for a few minutes, the courtyard became silent as the guards from both sides remained perfectly still, and awaiting orders. For a second, the Princess believed he had finally come to his senses, and that he had realised he could not jeopardize an entire peace treaty over a teenage crush. When he returned to his post, though, panicked and in tears, she knew she had, once again, been too optimistic.

"We stand for justice! We stand for justice!"

He started chanting repeatedly, the words quickly traveling amongst the ranks of his army who joined in the screams, to which Princess Bubblegum responded with a simple, yet effective, face palm. Was he really willing to go at war over this? She sighed deeply as she threw away her megaphone and lifted the sleeves of her sweater; if they were going to fight, she would not hesitate to jump in.

As both sides prepared for the worst, they had kept the wooden door unguarded, and so it came as a shock to everyone there when the bolts exploded under pressure, sending scrapes of metal and wood all around. While soldiers ducked the debris, a dark figure advanced upon the field, floating above the ground mysteriously. A rumor of fear ran amongst the two armies' ranks as the creature reached them slowly, and amidst a silence filled with angst, its voice rose loud and clear.

"I surrender", Marceline formally proclaimed as she stood still, hovering above the frightened soldiers, her face serious as her eyes filled with resolve. In a matter of seconds, she landed on the ground in front of Bubblegum, who had merely time to blink before the vampire held out both her hands and winked. "Or whatevs."

The pink monarch grabbed the cuffs that had been dangling from her waist and wrapped them around Marceline's wrists, her fingers brushing against the vampire's cold skin, as if she still couldn't believe what was happening. Relief overcame her senses as she realised the situation had finally been defused, and that her army could now stand down. She ordered her Banana guards to do so before she sent a look towards the castle's window, from which the Duke still stared, devastated.

"Thank you", the Princess muttered to Marceline, although she kept her eyes on the young boy. She sighed one last time before she turned around, ready to leave.

"I'll be fine, D", the vampire yelled at the Duke as she started walking away, obediently following Bubblegum and her guards towards the Candy kingdom.

She traveled quietly for the most part of the trip, feeling uneasy that anyone would be eager to wage a war for her freedom. That was why, she thought, she should always remain on her own; people were so easily swayed one way or another, and so incapable of tuning together their reason and their heart. She sighed as the Candy kingdom came into sight, its pink towers elevated against the landscape ahead. Somehow, she couldn't stop herself from speaking with the low voice of a sulking child;

"I didn't do nothing."

For a few seconds, she believed her protest had not been heard, and she was perfectly at peace with that possibility – she felt ridiculous for saying anything at this point, really. She was almost startled when Princess Bubblegum suddenly appeared on her right side, her pink eyes staring onto the horizon. Marceline could barely believe her ears when she heard the soft confession;

"I know."


	7. Chapter 7

Only the sound of the Banana guards' footsteps echoed in the long corridor that connected the Candy Dungeon to the rest of the castle. Princess Bubblegum looked as they walked away, her fingers mindlessly playing with the keys that hanged from her belt. Tired, she had almost forgotten why she was there when a voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What do you mean, _you know_?"

Sitting on the small wooden bench at the back of her cell, Marceline had kept both her eyes on the Princess ever since she had entered the jail, waiting for the right moment to ask the question that had been burning her lips for hours now. She heard from afar a loud door closing on itself and bolts being secured in place, and for a moment she wondered if it had been a trick to get her to come quietly; if the Princess had successfully gained her trust only to betray her moments later.

"I know you're not the thief."

Bubblegum's exhausted voice barely reached Marceline's ears, but they caused an immediate reaction none the less. The vampire stood up quickly and walked the few meters to reach the gate of her cell, her hands wrapping themselves around the cold bars of the jail door.

"Then why am I globbin' here?!", she yelled, shaking the bars as if she was trying to escape, even though she truly wasn't; that cell was no match for her, and if she wanted out, she could be back in the night's sky within a matter of minutes.

The Princess sighed as she moved closer to her prisoner, letting go of the keys as one hand rested on the bars next to Marceline's.

"Can you prove it?", she asked, staring directly in the vampire's orbs, obviously expecting an answer.

"Prove what?", the grey girl immediately replied, her anger rapidly dissipating into confusion and doubt.

"That it's not you", the Princess answered, watching as glimpses of understanding glistened behind Marceline's frustration. She waited a few seconds before she continued, proudly explaining her plan. "By my calculations, the thief should return to the Candy kingdom tonight. So…"

"So if I'm locked up and there's another theft, then it proves that it's not me", Marceline completed with a smile. "That's actually a good plan, Princess."

Bubblegum's cheeks reddened at the heartfelt compliment, and in an attempt to hide her embarrassment, she quickly turned around and started walking towards the dungeon's entrance.

"But it's not going to work", the vampire continued with a dark voice, leaning against the bars to keep her eyes on the pink monarch.

"Why?", Bubblegum asked as she stopped, puzzled.

"These bars don't hold me; I could get out of here anytime", Marceline spoke with an assured and defiant voice, even though she was currently struggling against the confines of her cell to look at the princess. She could only see a pink hand waving goodbye as she heard;

"Good luck with that."

She heard a strange click before she was left alone, listening to the footsteps going along the corridor, then the opening and closing of the loud, heavy door that marked the entrance of the dungeon. Marceline sighed as she looked around her; it was going to be a long night. Curious, she extended her arm through the bars of her cell, but her hand immediately hit something invisible that felt as hard as a rock.

"Stupid force field."

* * *

She had been drinking hot cocoa all night to keep herself awake, but it was starting to be nearly impossible to keep her eyes opened. She walked to her window and stared at the stars, wondering when she'd finally be allowed to rest. Princess Bubblegum yawned as her eyes ran over the buildings of her kingdom, noticing very few lights that were still on and no other sound than a loud snore.

"Pepppermint Butler!", she called, hoping her friend was still around, despite the late hour. He appeared in a matter of seconds.

"Yes, Princess?", he asked, awkwardly bending with a smile although he hated to be kept awake so late into the night. He hated that his sense of duty didn't allow him to get any sleep as long as the Princess didn't rest as well. Although his presence by her side was unnecessary, he had remained at her door's entrance for the last few hours, waiting and thinking. After all this trouble to get the vampire out of Bubblegum's hold and Marceline was locked up in a cell again? This creature had to be kidding if she thought she'd get any more help from him.

"Still no news?", the Princess asked, turning around to look at her clock. Peppermint Butler followed her stare and noticed the time, sighing as he realised the sun was going to be up soon. He simply nodded 'no' and then rapidly walked out of the room, cursing himself as he made his way towards his chamber, hoping to catch a bit of sleep before morning.

Alone under the windowsill, the Princess frowned. By all her calculations, the thief should have come back that night, and all its evil deeds had previously always been accomplished before two a.m. Once again, she had to face the facts; either she had made a mistake in her math, or it really was Marceline after all.

"Something's wrong."

* * *

Was it because she was incredibly exhausted, or was it that the scene before her eyes appeared nearly impossible? It was probably for both reasons that it took more than a few seconds for Princess Bubblegum's brain to compute what was happening before her eyes. It was math, really, just adding up the new parameters of the situation;

a tall creature wearing a dark cloth was standing in front of the dungeon's cell;

the intruder was holding the monarch's invention, the sun-in-a-gun;

said-weapon was currently active and aimed at the prisoner;

there were no screams of pain coming from Marceline's lifeless body.


	8. Chapter 8

"Marceline, are you okay?"

The question remained unanswered as the intruder slowly turned its head around, its penetrating black eyes locking onto the pink monarch as it continued to fire the sun-in-a-gun towards the vampire. The Princess shivered at the sight, noticing the stranger fitted perfectly with her citizens' descriptions of the thief: dark, tall and mean. She quickly recovered as she closed both her hands into fists, determined to rid her kingdom of the intruder once and for all.

In one brisk movement, she hit a blue button on the wall next to the entrance of the dungeon, sending an alarm all over the castle. Now that she knew reinforcements were on their way, she gathered all her courage and bravely engaged the enemy.

"Stop that, you butt!"

The Princess yelled before she ran up to the stranger, her arms rose over her head as if she was a one-woman army charging the battlefield. Reaching the thief's side, she immediately grabbed the creature's dark cloth, her pink fingers brushing against the rough fabric. As the monarch revealed the face that held the two evil black orbs that had caused fear and panic amongst her citizens for weeks, the intruder, startled, lost its hold of the weapon.

The sun-in-a-gun fell onto the floor, breaking upon impact, just like the Princess' heart when she recognized the stranger's face.

"It's you…!"

Although her voice was barely heard, the surprise kept her from closing her mouth. Her brain didn't have enough time to process the new data as the creature threw a punch at her. Still shocked, she remained paralyzed as the thief's fist reached her cheek, sending a quick wave of pain through her jaw. She rapidly recovered as her nervous system reacted, adrenaline flowing through her veins and waking up her instincts.

Princess Bubblegum successfully docked in time to avoid the second blow. Confident, she threw a punch towards the creature's face, but it stepped back just in the nick of time, making her lose her balance. The stranger took advantage of her weakened state and pushed her away with all its strength, sending her across the room. The monarch crashed into the bars of an opened cell, landing grotesquely on her back. She heard the fabric of her sweater ripping as she painfully pushed herself up and back on her feet. Dizzy, she made a few zigzag steps towards the stranger, closing her fists once again.

It had taken her only a few seconds to return to the fight, and although she found her opponent in the same spot, he now held a strange-looking device in his hands. She stared as he flicked a small switch, his eyes glistening as he noticed the hesitation and puzzlement spread around the pink monarch's face. The intruder set down the unknown object on the ground in front of him. Before the Princess had time to react, he started laughing loudly, and the echo of his laugh reverberated on the dungeon walls for a few seconds after he had vanished.

Bubblegum blinked a few times, having a hard time believing her eyes; was the thief really gone? She sent a quick look around the room, and although she was unable to find him, she noticed he had left the device behind. She nervously walked up to it and kneeled beside it, examining its design without touching it. It didn't take long for her brain to recognize exactly what it was, and immediately it sent another rush of adrenaline through her veins.

"Evacuate the castle! Do you hear me? Evacuate now!", the Princess screamed to the Banana guards that were running along the corridor leading to the dungeon. She barely listened as the footsteps stopped before the sound slowly faded away, her soldiers quick to the task, for once. Her mind remained concentrated on the problem at hand as she stared at the device and its complex mechanism.

A Tootsie roll bomb. It had been decades since the last one she had seen, but she remembered well how they were known for the great damage they caused. She had used only one of those, against the Bath Boys HQ so many years ago, in retribution for a friend's death; she had never heard of them again after the blow. Her brain quickly calculated, judging by the size of the weapon, that it could destroy the entire dungeon and half the south wing of the castle in a matter of seconds. She rolled her eyes when she found the clock indicating the time leading to the explosion – _red numbers counting down, really? isn't that a bit too obvi?_ Forty-nine seconds left. She'd better get going.

She took one step before she remembered her prisoner. In the panic, it had slipped her mind, but now that she was thinking more clearly, she couldn't leave her behind. The pink monarch rushed towards the cell, her body hitting hard against an invisible wall.

"Stupid force field"

Bubblegum ran again, this time to the door, hitting with her fist the button that controlled the mechanism. She then returned to Marceline's side, noticing, before she entered the cell, that the explosive device had just reached thirty-six. She shivered before she slapped the vampire, attempting to wake her. Barely hearing a groan in response, the princess grabbed her prisoner under her arms and started pulling her out.

"Damn girl, for someone who floats you're real heavy!"

The device had already counted down to twenty-three when the Princess successfully got the vampire out of the holding cell, and so she quickly did the math; she still had enough time to run out of here through the corridor, but not if she dragged Marceline along. If she saved the vampire, she would be able to go half-way, at best. Knowing a Tootsie roll bomb would most likely shatter to pieces the main room of the dungeon, the corridor leading to it would probably collapse onto them, making it possible to survive within the debris, but not likely.

An idea hit her in a flash as the device turned to nineteen, and so she moved quickly to execute her plan. She ran over the unconscious vampire's body, eager to reach the bomb. Delicately, she kneeled to take it in her hands, her fingers carefully avoiding the cables rigged into the explosive as she stood up slowly. She breathed deeply while she walked into the cell and gently placed the Tootsie roll on the wooden bench, her movements steady despite the fear that overwhelmed her senses.

The princess left the bomb behind as she ran once again out of the cell, her mind continuing the countdown even though she could no longer see the device's red numbers.

_9…_

_8…_

An arm rose from the vampire's body and Bubblegum tripped as Marceline's hand tried to grab her ankle, falling halfway on the floor and on the grey girl's body.

"Oh come on! It's so not the time", she complained loudly, quickly rising to her feet as the vampire lost consciousness once more.

_5…_

_4…_

She pushed the button in time for the force field to return, and watched from the entrance of the room as the bomb blew, destroying the entire cell and projecting its debris violently against the invisible wall that separated them. Bubblegum kept her eyes on the scene, orbs expanding as the explosion caused a ball of flames within the wreckage, dark smoke swirling on itself in the middle of the ruins.

"Now _that's_ cool."

* * *

There was no more pain when Marceline woke up, and for a few seconds she thought she had truly died, this time. Surrounded by white curtains, she thought she had reached the 50th Dead World – the lamest of all dead worlds, really – but when she looked behind her and noticed a yellow wall, she understood she was still alive. As she realised she was lying on a hospital bed, she slowly sat up, noticing a pink blur on her left. Marceline turned her head to see Princess Bubblegum, a book in her hand, sitting beside her, a smirk of contempt spread across her face.

"Ah, took you long enough!", the pink monarch said as she closed her book, a satisfied smile resting on her lips. Seeing as the vampire appeared lost, she sighed loudly. "You're in the Candy Kingdom Hospital."

Marceline frowned, knowing she had little use for doctors. Bubblegum appeared to follow her train of thought, seeing as she quickly explained;

"Your burns were too severe to heal on your own."

The vampire, despite not being entirely satisfied with the answer, stretched her arms and yawned, pushing the sheets of her body as if she had just woke up for an ordinary night of sleep.

"How long was I out?", she asked, trying to remember the details of what had happened to her. Only a few images floated around her mind, barely making sense: a dark cloth and, underneath, two empty black eyes; a weird scent she recognized as familiar but couldn't put her finger on; the terrible sunlight filling her cell, reaching every corner; her own skin burning; blacking out.

"A couple hours. Did you see who attacked you?", the Princess asked, her hands resting on top of her book, fingers absently running up and down the cover.

"No. You didn't catch him?", Marceline interrogated, surprised.

"When I arrived in the dungeon he or she was already gone."

Bubblegum sighed and rose from her seat, scratching her neck nervously as she walked towards the end of the bed. Unable to stop her eyes from scattering her looks around, she grabbed the medical file that hanged from the bed's board and absently tried to read it.

"Hey, what's up with your hair? Someone tries to kill me and you what? Go out and get a haircut?"

Marceline rose to her feet, barely reaching the floor before she started to float, hovering towards the Princess. There was definitely something off with that pink girl, but she couldn't figure out what. She crossed her arms and stared, obviously expecting an answer.

"We had to do you something to get your strength back", the pink monarch replied in a whisper, her eyes still avoiding looking at the vampire.

It didn't take long for the grey girl to understand what had happened.

"So you fed me your hair? Dude, that's creepy", Marceline answered with a mocking voice, although she couldn't stop blushing. Unknowingly, she started opening and closing her mouth, as if she was trying to remember the taste – she couldn't.

"Hey!", the Princess objected, throwing the medical file on the bed and locking eyes with the grey girl as she closed her fists. "This creep happened to save your sorry vampire butt so –"

"Yeah, yeah…" Marceline said, waving her hand in the air as if it were nothing. "Thank you Princess"

The pink monarch didn't reply, imitating the same gesture with her hand before she turned around, pushing the white curtains out of her way. She stopped between two steps, freezing in place as her head barely curved towards the vampire.

"Bonnibel", she murmured, one hand still on the white curtain, another clutched onto her book as if holding onto dear life. As if she hadn't said a word, she then started walking again, leaving the grey girl behind, her footsteps echoing against the infirmary's yellow walls.

"Huh?", Marceline wondered as she crossed between the curtains. Floating in the middle of the empty room, she stared at the pink monarch, a strange feeling tugging at her gut; _turn around, please just turn around_.

"'t's my name", Bubblegum simply said without another look, as she left the room.

"Oh", the vampire whispered, dumbfounded by the multiple revelations of the past few minutes. "Bonnibel…"

_Where have I heard that before?_

* * *

**Author's note: **Sorry for the delay, didn't mean to create such a cliffhanger (well, unconsciously, I probably did)! I've been sick, so it's been hard to concentrate enough to write, but I hope you'll like the chapter none the less.


End file.
